Rewa's home was filled with a tangible warmth that did indeed work to put Leia more at ease. She watched her step, eyes wide with wonder, as she followed behind Han along a path of vibrant woven rugs. Clay jars and candles lined the snaking walkways. Leia's attention was torn from the scattered pieces of art, however, as children flooded the small home, running in and out as they offered Han and Leia curious looks. With underlying motherly affection, Rewa scowled and hollered across the hut, "Annah'so! Take the children out! Guests are not to gawk at!"

"Yes, ma'am." An older-looking girl with Rewa's complexion came down the hall and shooed the children away, sweeping them along with her on her way out.

"I have five of my own," Rewa explained. "Three of them were my brother's, but they are mine now."

She guided them to a room which was the only one to be shielded with a curtain hanging over the doorway. Rewa swept the fabric aside and led Han and Leia in. The room was sparsely furnished aside from a great bed which occupied the middle of the room. Beside the bed sat a low kitchen stool and a rack of old, worn towels.

"We have no doctors or proper medical equipment. It's a risk to go to the medcenter on Reecee; you never know who is working, and who they respect."

"So, you started your own clinic?"

"I am the midwife," Rewa corrected. "I can't say I know much about medicine at all, but I've learned what I had to to help my community."

With a glimmer of empathy in her eyes, Leia cocked her head and asked, "Out of curiosity, may I ask how many children you've helped deliver?"

Rewa grunted, stepping around the bed, and Leia struggled to decide if it had been a laugh or not. "Too many to count," she answered with a content smile on her face. She took a seat on a bench which sat at the foot of the bed, laid a hand on the thin, light covers. "But many lives have started in this room. And I feel blessed to have been a part of that." Rewa's gaze returned to Leia. "Of course, it is your choice if you trust our resources or not."

Leia didn't say it out loud, but the thought flickered across her mind that she and Han were too short on options to be picky. She didn't want to think of it as settling for this when it was a matter of the life of her and Han's child, but have full confidence in what Casita's community had to offer, full confidence in Rewa's capabilities and that she was well equipped to coach Leia through the labor and tend to her recovery following the birth.

In a bizarre moment, Leia realized exactly what she and Han were planning for, and it brought a sense of reality Leia hadn't been prepared for. Unwittingly, she raised a hand to brush her abdomen. There was no swell there, no flutters, no kicking and pounding from the inside. Yet. That little word, that idea was what had kept Leia from fully realizing what was happening. The morning sickness, the little twinges of aches and pains, that was all temporary; she could deal with them as they came. But this— they were making plans. She and Han were making plans for something that needed to be prepared for. Not something Leia could deal with now and brush away.

"I'm pregnant."

The two words fell out of Leia's mouth with enough sound of surprise to make Han turn and look at her. "Hey, Leia?"

She blinked in embarrassment and glanced away.

"You need to sit down?"

"I'm fine. I think I'm just tired."

When Rewa spoke up and Leia caught her glance, something in her eyes seemed to understand. She smiled reassuringly. "Why don't I leave for a moment? Then, you two can take a look around and decide what you think."

As Rewa dismissed herself, pulling the curtain over the doorway, Han sat on the edge of the bed. "You're thinking too much."

Leia raised a brow. "I haven't yet told you what I am thinking."

"You're always thinking too much," he retorted.

Without another word, Leia plopped on the bed beside him. "Tell me what you think for a change."

"It's a lot. I know it is. So, talk to me. What are you thinking?"

"Han, we've already had this conversation before. We can talk about this and plan for it until we turn blue, but— I don't feel any better about this. In fact, Han, I feel even worse. Not about the plans, necessarily. I think that is what's scaring me. We have all this to plan now, all these little reminders about how our lives are going to be turned upside down— but it's like I keep forgetting what's happening. I keep forgetting, and then I remember again, and there's this shock that I have to get over every single time. Over and over again. Like I can't just come to terms with it."

Han's hands slipped around her waist, and he pulled her into his arms, fingers playing with the hem of her shirt. "Shocked me too, Princess. But it makes me pretty happy; 've always wanted a family."

Leia threw her head back to rest against Han's shoulder. "Just an hour before we left Hoth, you were ready to leave."

Han didn't respond.

"You had two feet out the door, and you were ready to run again. Leave me. Never come back."

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"But you loved me then."

"Leia, I've loved you for a long time."

"But you were going to leave. But then you came back. And now, we're stumbling through space, and you've managed to knock me up."

Han froze. "Really? That's how you want to phrase that?"

Despite herself, Leia chuckled. "You've left your mark on me, Han Solo."

"'S no souvenir," he promised, "I'm not leaving."

She nodded lazily against his chest. "I'm holding you to it." Leia let her eyes drift close, let herself take the moment to recollect each individual thought racing across her mind and lay it all to rest. "Han. I want you. I don't know about this yet, or if I even want it, but I know how I feel about you. That much is solid and definite. I want you to be a permanent part of my life. No matter what happens."
He smiled down at her. "Been waiting a long time to hear those words."

"I'm tired of being by myself. I used to think I was protecting myself. Because I lost everything with Alderaan. My home, my family, my friends, everything I cared about. After that, I was afraid of making new friends or finding a new home. Stars, I still am because I am afraid I'll lose it all again just like I lost Alderaan. I'm afraid that everything I've gained since then is too good to be true, and if I blink it will all disappear. But I'm running out of excuses to keep you at arm's length."

Leia could imagine the goofy grin Han must have been wearing as he loosened his hold and said with great pride, "Why, Princess, I am honored!"

"Make me a promise. Don't leave me. Whatever happens."

"Don't worry, Princess. You're stuck with me." His lips left a tender kiss on her temple, and his arms wrapped their way about Leia's waist just a little tighter. "No more Alderaans," he muttered into her hair. "I'm not gonna let them take anymore Alderaans from you."

Once, only a few months ago, Leia would have argued she had no more Alderaans to hold close to her heart and protect, but things had changed so quickly. She had Han; she could finally admit that she wanted him and embrace it. And now, they had made their own Alderaan together.

Leia settles her hands over her abdomen as she considered that thought— and the mere fact she'd thought it. Her world was suddenly a whirlwind as she realized how she truly felt about it all. This baby hadn't become and automatically adapted the similar importance of Alderaan; Leia certainly hadn't felt that way when she'd discovered she was pregnant. No, nothing could be conceived and mean so much at its moment of conception, but grow to develop that meaning. This really had been her unfortunate luck considering the timing and the circumstances— but Leia's lips adopted a nervous smile as she accepted that Han and this baby were both her new Alderaan.